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The Dissolving Mist: Chapter 2
Diana's P.O.V I reached closer and closer towards Nepal. I parked the boat in the shore and sprinted towards Nepal, where it's home to the highest mountain in the world. I stopped in the jungle so I can eat from my packs, since I've exhausted a lot of my energy running and make it to this country. I grabbed some sushi and started eating them. It felt so good, and it also replenishes my energy. I looked around. The forest was surrounded with trees and leaves, with quite a lot of bushes growing from the ground. There are quite a lot of palm trees and on my left side is a cactus tree. I kept eating and as soon as I'm full, I decided to go to the Himalayas. I stroked my cheek. I could sense the gem is on the top of the mountain, and it's going to be quite a climb to get there. I've heard that people had gone vertigo because of the lack of oxygen in that mountain, but I guess I can handle this because I was taught to be able to toggle to respire anaerobically so I can survive in environments with little to no oxygen. And it proved to be worthwhile. I was power jumping and power sprinting my way towards the source of the magic gem. It was tiring, and after about a few thousand meters above the sea level, I was beginning to feel dizzy, and I could feel my breathing getting faster. I know I have to be fast so I don't suffer brain damage. I continued pushing my way up until I finally grabbed the gem, and this time the gem is light blue, the color of the ice surrounding me. I took the easy way down, which is sliding down the snowy mountain, and after a few minutes of sliding, I began to breathe again, and I'm hyperventilating. I'm sure I haven't experienced any brain damage because I still can see, and my motor functions are normal, and I don't feel any frostbites in my arms, but there's some ice in my hair, so I shook my head to shake them off. I stopped sliding after I saw civilization, and I guess it would be nice to take a break here. It's been one long day, and it's now 4 o'clock in the afternoon local time at Nepal, which could mean that back where I live, it could be night, which is why I'm so sleepy right now. I went to a nearby mountain and I looked for a cliff so I can sleep while hanging about 20 meters from the cliff, and that's one of the strategies to remain alive in this mountain so I won't fall easy prey to predators lurking around the mountain. I grabbed a rope and use it to make a harness that I could fit in. As soon as that's done, I tied the rope into a nearby tree, and I freefell from the cliff and is suspended 20 meters below the cliff. Then, I fell asleep. Josh's P.O.V It may not look like night time, but in our homelands, it is night time, which is why we felt tired. Stephanie was ready to doze off, and Adam and Gary is already sleeping, so that only left me to keep watch out for monsters that are closing in. It was a boring job actually, but I managed to spot a sea serpent lurking around the sea, and there are about 2 of them. I wake Adam up first, because since sea serpents are sea creatures, I figure that Adam will have the advantage for this. "Uhh... what?" Adam stirred in his sleep. Then he wakes and yelps when he saw two sea serpents heading our way. Since the others are already asleep, Adam needs to take out the sea serpents without waking Stephanie and Gary. Adam makes current flow away from the boat and that pushes the sea serpent away from us, and the sea serpent struggled to make their way here, but their strength is outmatched by Adam's power. The sea serpents eventually retreated into the depths after a few minutes and Adam collapsed onto the table, making quite a loud sound that woke Stephanie up. "What... was that?!" Stephanie asked. "Adam just went to sleep." I told her. Stephanie yawned. "Anyways, it's my turn to take shift. Go to sleep, Joshy." I nodded, and I went to sleep. It didn't take long for me to begin having dreams of the gemstones. There are four left, and they are in Himalayas, Borneo Island, Sahara Desert, and the north pole. Then my dream switched back to the underworld, where Atalanta was punished to run for eternity, and she was chased by lions chasing her for eternity. I'm sure soon or later Atalanta will get tired, but she didn't seem to tire. It's probably because Atalanta gets to rest after a few hours or so. But nevertheless, when Atalanta rests, she laughs like she had accomplished something. Perhaps she already sent a bunch of runners to their deaths, or she managed to escape death for a whole 20 years after being sent back to the underworld, or perhaps...... Could Atalanta had rigged the mist in the upper world? It's so obvious. Ever since Atalanta had died, mists around the world, the mist that covers mortals eyes from monsters had been disappearing, and now the mortals are preparing a weapon that they might use to destroy us. Soon or later, we must find a way to put a veil over the mortals eyes before the mortals figure out a way to remove the mist from the world for good. Hecate was so busy trying to find this strand of magic that is connecting Atalanta's life force to the mist above world. The process could take ages, but being meticulous and consistency is the key to success. There could be billions or even trillions of strands connecting the magic life force to every world known to man, but only one strand is rigging the mist to Atalanta's life force. Now I get it. In order to trace the source of rigging, they need 5 gemstones of magic. Sure we can locate the rigging magic by luck, but there's about more than a trillion magics tied to every world known to man, and the gemstones will help us specifically on that one strand, which we must cut to restore the mist to the upper world, ending the conflict between mankind, demigods, monsters, and gods. I woke up with a scream. My scream woke everyone up, and all of us looked up in the sky, and it's already morning. "Josh! You had a nightmare." Stephanie said. "Yes, I have." I said, and I told everyone the details about my nightmare, and everyone didn't seem surprised. "Perhaps we need to get the other gemstones in order to help Diana. I'm sure she will be delighted if we help her." Diana's P.O.V It was morning, and I'm still suspended below the cliff, and I climbed up the rope and got up to the top of the cliff and I gathered the ropes together and put it back in my pack. I continued my journey, and this time the nearest destination is the dense jungles of Borneo, but I decided to go to the arctic circle first because I don't know much about Borneo, so I decided to head off to the safest place first. I ran through the mist, through the woods, through the darkness and the shadows. It took me quite a while to ran my way across the forests, avoiding civilization as I am not able to manipulate the mists since they are dissipating. As soon as I met a civilization, I try to skirt around it in order to find the border and kept following the path of the forest to the north. I eventually met a dead end to the forest and stumbled towards a civilization, but this area seemed to be deserted. This is strange, considering that a couple of miles earlier, there's lots of people, and most of them are little kids playing around. I stopped for a while and dropped to a crouch. I need to observe that area more closely because I have a bad feeling going to that place. I wasn't aware of what's behind me and when I turned around, I saw 4 kids running towards me. They must have been following me. "Hello!" One of them said. I stood up, examining the children. They are about 6-7 years old, and one wore this plastic armor, imitating that of a warrior. Another wore an archer armor, and it's quite similar to the one I wore. Another is wielding a short sword. I looked directly at the boy and managed an awkward smile. "H-hello." "Nice costume you have there." Another said. "Hunter's costume, really nice." I blushed at that comment. "Thanks." "You might need some guidance to go to the place in front of you. There's lots of monsters hiding in there." The first one said. "I can handle it, thanks." I told the kids, and then I explored the area. It was really abandoned, but what's surprising to me is that it's only been abandoned for 2 weeks, roughly the same time as when Atalanta was killed. I looked around the icy village, and a couple of hyperborean giants are spotted just in front of me. They are just wondering around in peace. I know about them. They only attack when we disturb them, so it's best to leave them alone. There are some polar bears, and the seemed to be aware of the Hyperborean Giants presence around here, because the polar bears just skirt around them. I continued looking around and some laistrygonian giants are also present. One laistrygonian giant summoned a bronze flaming ball and when the Hyperborean Giant looks at the laistrygonian giant, the Hyperborean giant freaked out and took a couple of panicked steps back and breathed an icy breath that encases the laistrygonian giant in an iceberg. I had to laugh at that. This funny moment happens only once in every 1 or 2 years, so taking advantage of this moment to enjoy the monsters like this by watching them is needed, and that's one of the ways I enjoyed life as I cling to the last pieces of moments that actually made me human. I continued to go to the north, and more and more monsters are spotted. Among them were winter wolves and I could sense blizzard storm is about to come, so I searched for a nearby shelter to take shelter from a nearby storm. I noticed an igloo just a few meters from where I am standing, so I went inside the igloo and took cover from the blizzard. Even though I was using Artemis' protection, the silver glowing aura, it still felt cold. This could mean that this place could reach as low as -30 degrees Celsius. Looks like weather had just gone from very bad to extremely bad. I have to brace myself for the worst, and if this blizzard continues, I have to keep moving even though the weather is not right. This Igloo was also abandoned in a hurry, because I saw some leftover treasures that they probably didn't bring with them. There's some television and Playstation 3. I wonder who plays video games in the midst of winter. This Igloo is really big, and it took me quite a while to find my way out of the igloo. When I looked outside, the blizzard had ended, so I grabbed my packs and continued my journey to the Arctic circle. I was exhausted from all these running and decided that I will eat at a nearby restaurant. I figure that the owner of the restaurant will be able to see me in my clothes but I was quite desperate, and besides, I have to save my food in my pack for later so that I can eat while I'm miles away from any restaurants. I spotted a sushi restaurant nearby and ordered some salmon sushis topped with unagi. I managed to hide my equipments in my backpack so I'm safe right now. After the meal, I pay the owner with some mortal cash I have and continued on my quest. Finding a boat to the Arctic Circle is never an easy task. Not many people dare to sail to the Arctic Circle because the place is so cold, that life won't sustain there very long. By luck, I found a boat that I can use to go to Arctic Circle, and it looks like abandoned, so I make a swim through the near-freezing water and climbed onto the boat and started my journey to the Arctic Circle. It was a freezing journey, even before I entered the boat. Now as I cruised further towards the Arctic Circle, the air gets colder, and I haven't really packed any winter coats. Stupid me..... Now I have to use small amounts of magic to make my body glow more silver to protect me more from the cold. I cruised along the freezing cold oceans. I figure that the temperature has reached 22 degrees Fahrenheit, and yet the water hadn't froze yet. After about 30 minutes I sailed throughout the ocean, I encountered some sea serpents. The sea serpent lashed its tail onto this boat, causing the boat to capsize and I was thrown into the freezing cold water. I kept swimming towards the serpent, managing to fight off the cold as I grabbed the serpent by its neck and the serpent writhed around. The serpent managed to dive under as I held onto its neck, and it circled around the ship as its tail lashed onto the boat again, and this time it restores the boat from its capsized position, and I was relieved. "Thanks." I thought as I let the serpent go for now as the serpent retreated into the depths. I then swam to the surface and as soon as I got to the surface, I gasped and coughed and returned to the ship. Just then the serpent returned. It looks like the serpent is charging at me now. I took a deep breath and dive down to face the serpent, as well as drawing my hunting knives. I waited until the serpent is within reach, and as soon as the serpent is inches from where I am, I quickly swerved to the left side and stabbed the serpent in its neck, and I waited as the serpent disintegrated. I swam up, and I gasped and coughed and panted as I swam my way towards the ship. I climbed the ladder to get inside the ship and proceeded to shiver violently from the exposure from the cold water. All I can do is rub my shoulders with my hands, as well as rubbing my hands with my torso to generate heat. I looked around, and I finally succumbed to the cold, as I drifted off to unconsciousness. Josh's P.O.V Despite our nearest location is in the dense Jungles of Borneo, we decided to go to the Arctic Circle, only because we're trying to outrun Diana's pace here. We know that we won't be able to, but there's nothing wrong with trying. We went through Nepal, and of course, the Himalayas, the tallest mountain groups in the world. We have quite a bit of a roadblock since Stephanie fainted and then me, Adam and Gary needed to help her. We decided to take turns carrying Stephanie until she wakes. Probably she isn't used to the thin air of the Himalayas or high altitude places. Adam searched for oxygen while I tend to her side, just in case she woke up and needs something, so I keep little bits of Ambrosia and Nectar within me so when Stephanie wakes, I can feed them on her, so she will feel a little better. Adam could take ages while finding oxygen, because they can be scattered around the place, from dead climbers. Finally, after 20 minutes, Adam returned with an oxygen mask. I quickly strapped the mask into Stephanie's face and then sure enough, Stephanie began breathing. She looked at us in confusion, trying to figure out where she was. I waved my hand, and sure enough Stephanie's eyes followed it. About 5 minutes after Stephanie wakes, I slowly put down the oxygen mask and feed her ambrosia and Nectar. Her colors seemed to have returned to her and she is smiling again. "Thank you, guys!" Stephanie said. "Now let's continue around the mountains and look for this Diana girl!" Diana's P.O.V I woke up still inside the ship, and found out that the ship has grinded to a halt. I still feel cold, but not as cold as before. It looks like I need to either limit myself to the exposure towards the cold or spend more magic to warm my body up to a suitable temperature. I sat up, waiting for my head to stop spinning, and after it did stop spinning, I gathered my belongings and equipments and set out to the Arctic Circle on foot. I could feel the ice below me is thin, so I tried to tiptoe to avoid breaking the ice, and I'm tiptoeing quite fast. I took one step, and then another, and then another, and after about 20 minutes, I finally reached a solid ice, and from that point, I literally ran towards the silver gem. I could sense the silver gem. It's nearby, and I could tell it radiates strong presence of magic, so locating it will be easy. I found that gem, and picked it up and I could feel more warmth radiating around me, and I no longer need to cast this warmth magic that I currently use, so to speak. I tucked the silver gemstone in my pocket, as with the other three gemstones that I have already gathered, but I tuck this one on separate pocket on my pants so I know that that will be the gem to keep. I made my way back, and I power sprinted back towards the shore I came from and sure enough the boat is still there, so I went inside the boat and started the engine and finally out of the Arctic Circle. Category:Josh-Son Of Hyperion Category:The Dissolving Mist Category:Fan Fiction Category:Chapter Page